


KH3 but bass boosted

by P1n34pp73



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Implied Relationships, M/M, Minor Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Not Beta Read, Sora is a good boy, Sora is angy, Sora is this close to snapping, Swearing, i cant believe ive done this, i don't like Donald and it shows, if ya want things done do it yourself, oh boy, will update the tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23536396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P1n34pp73/pseuds/P1n34pp73
Summary: *puts on Infinity gauntlet* Fine, I'll do it myself.Kingdom Hearts, but the pacing more consistent and the worlds have more meaning.
Kudos: 5





	1. The Long road ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *puts on Infinity gauntlet* Fine, I'll do it myself.   
> Kingdom Hearts, but the pacing more consistent and the worlds have more meaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is un-betaed so I apologize for any typos. I right like 50% of this past midnight.

“Have you heard of the ancient Keyblade war?”  
“Huh? Of course I have”  
“Long ago, Keyblade wielders waged a war over the ownership of Light, Lux is what they used to call it, used it as a ranking system of a sorts, the ones with the most Lux were on top.”  
“Yeah, that’s the Master’s favorite story”  
“I wonder what they planned on doing with Kingdom Hearts after….making it appear…”  
“Who knows? I don’t get why anyone would initiate a war, over Light of all things.”  
“So…. you know of the “Lost Masters”?”  
“Who?”  
“They’re the ones who started the Keyblade war”  
“Never heard of them, where’d you hear about that?”  
“Or…. they’re the ones whom the war started”  
“I’m not following?”  
“You can drop the facade”  
“Facade?”  
“ “on that land shall Darkness prevail and Light expire”, a prospective Keyblade Master should know this”  
“If you say so”  
He looks at the mural above the throne. “The Gazing Eye sees the fate of the world. The future-it’s already been written”  
“Really? I’m not sure about that. Besides, who’s to say I can’t change it? And maybe Light will prevail, you say it’s all written out, yet that’s not how the world works”  
“Hm, pretty confident”  
“I’m confident that someone will do whatever they can to tip the scales in their favor, whether it be the Light or the Dark”  
“But the odds are against you”  
“Perhaps, but unlike the Dark, there’s more Light than meets the eye, you’d be surprised”  
The silver haired one smiles. “Oh I hope so”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Sora, Donald, and Goofy stand in a salute of sorts at Yen Sid’s desk in his tower, that never seems to stay in one place.  
“In order to defeat Xehanort, there are allies we must gather, the seven guardians of Light for every new Princess of Light, including you Sora, acting now will rouse the guardians from their long slumber. We have discussed this before, Sora. Your Mark of Mastery exam was conducted in the hope’s you would acquire the power to wake them. However…. The Darkness nearly took control of you and your grasp of your new abilities leaves much to be desired” 

It was hard to hear, but he was right. He wasn’t strong enough on his own to fend off Xehanort's influence, yes he had Riku there and his friends in his heart to help him, but the power of friendship can only go so far…

“Furthermore, Xehanort nearly made you his vessel, and in the process, he stripped you of most of your power you had gained by then, leaving you too weak to carry this burden. I suspect you have already noticed this, correct?” He did, he really did, but it hurt to hear the slight disappointment in his voice. All he can do is look at the floor with a hurt expression, he couldn’t say anything because…. he was right, Donald and Goofy tried to ease him but they can only do so much in the presence of Yen Sid. He was getting disciplined, he had to hear this. 

“But first, you must regain all the strength you have lost. Perhaps it was foolish of me to expect a full recovery, but it is absolutely vital you perfect one power- the power of waking, which you failed to master during your exam.”  
“Well garsh Yed sid, aren’t you being just a little too harsh on him? It wasn’t his fault Xehanort messed with his exam” Goofy piped up.  
“Yeah, he didn’t ask to be a vessel!” Donald defended. 

He felt some tension lift from his shoulders, he silently thanked them with a small pat on their shoulders, he could always count on them to make him smile. 

“Hmm, perhaps I am, but alas you still need to regain the strength you’ve lost. There’s someone who lost his strength and found it again, a true hero to whom you ought to pay a visit. Perhaps he can point you in the right direction” 

His face lit up, he knew exactly who he was talking about and he couldn’t be happier. He even striked some poses and laughed a little in attempt to make himself not squeal in excitement. 

“Got it!” he giggled a little.  
“You can count on us to take care of Sora!” Goofy added.  
“I would have it no other way. I put Sora in your hands.” A small smile creeps on the old man.  
“And don’t forget, we’ll keep an eye on you!” Donald pointed at Sora and then held his hand out.  
“Oh this gonna be lot’s of fun!” Goofy added his hand.  
“It’s not a vacation” Sora playfully scolded him and added his hand in too. “Let’s go!”  
“You can count on us!” They all saluted and yelled in unison. Yen Sid noded with a smile and sent them on their way.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three of them now sit in their brightly colored Gummi Ship, aimlessly floating through the space between worlds. Donald and Goofy stare at Sora until he can figure out how to get them to Olympus, Donald impatiently tapping his fingers on his head and seat while Goofy just scratches his head in thought.  
“Mmmmmmm how’re we supposed to get there now?!” Sora sighed thoughtfully.  
“What?!? I thought you knew!” Donald yelled in frustration.  
“Well it seems like all the old highways are closed”  
“What? Why?” Sora sunk more into his chair.  
“So the darkness won’t have an easy path to conquer worlds, you dingus!” Donald stood in his seat and tapped his flipper impatiently.  
“Well i'm sorry i didn’t know!”  
“You should! You’re a Keyblade wielder!” This ended up in the two bickering at each other while Goofy thinks about something.  
“Didn’t Master Yen Sid say that Sora should trust the guidance in his heart?”  
“What?” The two say in unison.  
“I've heard him say “May your heart be your guiding key”, I've heard him say that before he sends us of on our real important missions”  
“Really?” Sora leaned against his chair.  
“I haven’t heard that before” Donald questioned.  
“Maybe I just imagined it..” Goofy scratched his head as Sora walked to the driver’s seat, seemingly deep in thought. “May my heart be my guiding key…..” He said to himself as he looked up at the window.  
“Hmm” He smiles and chuckles as he summons his Key. “I got it!” He aims his Key up towards the window as the point starts to glow. Outside the ship, a gate appears.  
“Yes!” He takes the wheel. “Olympus Coliseum! Here we come!” He puts the ship at full speed and blasts through space, into the gate. 

~

At long last, the time had come. The Planets were edging into perfect alignment...and the plan Hades devised eighteen years ago was about to reach fruition. The Fates has predicted this very future-the day he would seize control of Olympus and rule over the cosmos. Hades’ previous attempts-using Terra, Cloud, and Auron to advance his plans for conquest-had failed. The hour was not yet right. But now, the planets were aligned and nothing could possibly go wrong. A wave of darkness lanced down from the celestial rank, and one by one, Hades freed the Titans from their prison-some of them the same monstrosities that Sora and his friends had already bested before. With both the Titans and his longing for vengeance against Zeus reinvigorated, Hades began his attack on Olympus. 

~

They arrive at Olympus, or what they think is Olympus at least. When the three look around all they see is rocks and cracks of growth in said rocks. Sora scans the horizon for any signs of life, nothing. “Hmm, no fanfare?” He makes a trumpet noise with his hands as the other two look around to see if they hear anything.  
“Nope, looks like we missed the Coliseum”  
“Sora! You opened the gate!” Donald quickly blamed Sora, in which he laughed at.  
“I must’ve been a little off again, sorry! we’ll find him, but now we need to go!” He starts walking off in a direction.  
“Up the mountain?”  
“Uh, yeah. “Up” is the usual direction” He said as he stopped to look back at them.  
‘Welp, never hurts to have your head up in the clouds, ahyuk!”  
“Exactly!” Sora flashed a smile and continued onward as Goofy chuckled and followed, while Donald just sighed.  
“Hey! We’re leaving” Sora called out to him, Donald being Donald, made his wacky duck noises as he ran to catch up with them. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm sorry I left without saying good-bye. Did Master Yen Sid tell you? I’m training to become a Keyblade wielder like you. That’s right! No more waiting for you to come back from your adventures. I want to be out there and do my part to help. Merlin used his magic to bring us to a place where time works differently, a few days here could be hours out there, so by the time I'm done, I'll be all caught up with you. He’s an amazing wizard.  
Oh and by “us” I mean Lea and I. He’s really sorry for all the trouble he caused. I’ve tried telling him it’s fine, but he won’t stop apologizing. I’ll admit I was a little scared of him at first, that red hair isn’t just for looks, but I’ve gotten to know him better. All he ever wanted was to help his friend and honestly, it’s hard not to like him.  
Every now and then, I catch him staring at me. I ask him what’s wrong, but all he says is “I’m not sure. I think i'm forgetting something, but i don’t know what…”  
Sora, I think it may have something to do with you. Your journey is all about helping people: some that you’ve never met before, and some like Lea that you have. They're all counting on you. It won’t be easy, but I hope you’ll stay like the happy , cheerful Sora I know. There’s no heart that I haven’t seen that your smile can’t reach. 

Kairi writes on her paper as she sits on a rock, looking over the forested cliffside with the warm sunset light keeping her warm. She hears footsteps walking towards her and looks up to see Axel walking up to her. He looked lost in thought.  
“What’s wrong?”  
“Huh? Nothing, sorry” He looked away from her.  
“Lea.”  
“What? I am.” He scratches his head and sits on the rock across from her, the sun making his hair burn even brighter than normal. He looks at her notepad.  
“A letter?”  
“Yup” She smiles.  
“To Sora, I assume” He teases, which makes her giggle a little.  
“Mmm, technically yes. But I won’t send it, It’s more for me.” She lovingly hugs the notepad to her chest.  
“Ask Merlin, he can deliver it for you” The red head suggested.  
“I know, but it’s ok, I just like talking to Sora, even if it’s just on paper”  
“ oh, ok…. oh!” He dug something out of his pockets, two pale blue popsicles.  
“Ice cream? really? “ She smiled, she knew Axel loved Sea Salt.  
“Yeah, asked Merlin to pick these up. Ya know, we did both summon Keyblades. Gotta celebrate!” He offered her one.  
“You’re sweet, Lea” She happily takes the one offered and gives it a small bite. He chuckles.  
“Naw… I’m more of a spicy guy” This made her almost drop her ice cream from laughing.  
“Lea!” She playfully punches his arm.  
“What?! Am I wrong?” He throws his arms to the side.  
“Snrk, no, you’re not.” She puts away her notepad and pen so it doesn’t get stained.  
They enjoy their ice cream in comfortable silence, but Lea seems like he spaced out again.  
“Something wrong?”  
“No, no just….” He looks at his hands.  
“You’re trying to remember what you forgot?”  
“We I uh… Yeah.. yeah” He looks in the distance.  
“So tomorrow- you and me in the ring. You ready?” She pokes him and smiles.  
He smiles. “Course.”  
“Don’t hold back Lea. Promise?”  
He was about to look at her and respond, but …. He could’ve sworn he saw someone else, someone with short black hair. Why did she seem so familiar? Why did he suddenly felt a pull at the heartstrings? She smiled at him and he froze, dropping his ice cream. His vision grew a little blurry, he felt tears slide down his face. Kairi Asked if he was ok.  
“Yeah.. sorry…”  
“You’re crying, what’s wrong?” Her voice laced in concern.  
He sniffs. “Something in my eyes..”  
“Lea…”  
He sighs and stands up and wipes his face.  
“I’m.. gonna go. Sorry”  
“‘Kay, but stop apologizing.”  
“ Fine… on one condition, you call me Axel from now on… Got it memorized?”  
She laughs.  
“Sure, Axel” She gives him a warm smile as he walks off. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I think we might be going in circles” The trio reached a landing, overlooking the valley below.  
“Sora…” Donald squints at him, expecting him to explain himself.  
“Uh, Did I take a turn at the wrong rock?” He looks out onto the horizon and walks towards the ledge.  
“Hey! Hercules! Where are youuuu?!” Sora yelled at the top of his lungs out into the world.  
Then a black cloud decened onto thier leadge, the trio summon thier weapons immidietly.  
“All right. I know I dotted my I’s crossed my T’s, zeroed the hero. So what gives? Who could possibly be trying to give me a migraine by yodeling that yutz’s name?” The man with blue flames for hair appeard out of the smoke, rubbing his tempel in fustration.  
He puts his palm to his forehead and slicks his ‘hair’ back.  
“Really? Hades?” The brunett croses his arms.  
“Oh it’s just you. Oy vey.” He looked unamused.  
“It’s just us? Even for you that’s cold”  
“Don’t forget~I can always turn up the heat!” His form glows bright red for a second, but then mellows back into his normal blue. Goofy looks around. “If Hades is here, where’s Herc-”  
“What’s everyone’s infatuion with that DOLT?” Now he really glows red and even flames surround him. “You know what?” He turns around. “Never mind. Never mind. Im cool. I’m good. Because… Wonderboy’ll be outta my flames soon enough” He paces away from them.  
“So you’re up to no good again!” The trio gets in a battle stance.  
“No good? Ya talkin to Hades, lord of the underworld, no good’s kinda my thing, but whoa, easy-what’s this Sparta? As much as I’d love to stuff you three six-feet under with the rest of em, kinda on a schedule here. No time to toss around the ol fire and bromstone” He waves them off dismisivly. “The whole cosmos is basically waiting for me to, ya know, conquer it!”  
“Tsk, tsk, tsk” Sora shakes his head. “Poor Hades, thinks he can get away with it this time.  
“Oh i’ll do more than just get away with it. Wheeeeere are my Titians? Show me your power!” He riases his arms to the sky.  
The sky grows dark, the smell of ash fills the air, and the ground shakes. And suddenly a dark shadow covers them and wind starts to blow them back, lava starts to surround them.  
“Ah! Love the breeze!” Hades shout mockingly as the three scream thier heads off as they get blown away into the distance.  
He dusts off his hands. “That sent em sailing” He turns to the titans.  
“Nice work boys! So back to the cosmic coup thing?” The giants then storm off, Hades waves them with both arms. He was mildly content until he heard the familar sound of a dark corridor opening.  
“Ugh, Really? Are you kidding? Geez Louise. When it rains it pours. Ok, knows the new pest?” He turns to be met with Maleficent and Pete walking through.  
“Hey, now that ain’t no way to say hello, ‘specially to your old pals” Pete greeted.  
“Oh, perfect. Now I gotta put up with you two, backaround charaters” He waves them off. “Funny thing is, I don’t remember either of you doing me any memorable favors. So, you can keep your heartless and Darkness to yourselves. I’m going take over the world and you can kindly shedaddle and be a useless settup for the next game somewhere else. But Hey it was great seein ya! Hope ya liked the view, the cheese and wine. Good-byyyye!”  
“We are not here for you. I have my own bussiness to attend too. All I need to know is if there’s a distinctive…. Black box… somewhere in this world?”  
“Hmm” He pases around. “Black box huh? Black box, black box… Hold up, don’t tell me…. You’re after the one Zeus his on Earth? The one that released all the icky things in the world?”  
“Possibly. If I were, where might it be?” She smirks and quips an eyebrow. 

~

As Herc dusts off his hands from clearing some rubble he hears, distant schrieks of terror and turns to find the scource, only to se thre distant dots flying towards him. Upon realization that those are people he leaps up and graps Sora and Goofy and throws them over his shoulders as he lands.  
“See? Found him” He giggles.  
“I guess that counts, ahyuk”  
“Hey! Get me down!” Donald then starts making very disgruntled duck noises.  
“Just a second!” Herc tried to reassure him to no avail as he continues to scream. 

~

“Sora! Donald! Goofy! You guys are here! You litteraly dropped in, gotta say, I’m impressed” Herc flashed a smile towards them.  
“Thanks!” Donald piped up.  
“Liked the catch” Goofy added.  
“Yeah, thanks Herc, but, … what’s going on?” Sora, looks around to see the city in shambles, buildings burning down and collapsing, people crying for help, the smell of ash thick in the air. Herc sighs.  
“Take a guess, starts with an H”  
“Ah, I see, we bumped into the H-ster on our way here, said something about taking over the whole cosmos” He crossed his arms.  
“The whole thing huh? Good to know he showed some self-restraint. Well whatever he’s planning, we’ll send him running back across the styx” The younger giggles.  
“That’s out Herc!” He posed like the Herc statue in front of them.  
“So anyway, why are you here? I’m guessing it’s not just for the cheese and olives”  
“Uhhhhh..” He scratched his head, trying to rack his brain of what he was here for, curse his bad memory. “Looks like someone forgot” Goofy broke the silence.  
“That’s our Sora!” He knows they’re just pokng fun, but why did it have to be in front of Herc of all people. Sora, ever since he first met him, he always looked up to Herc, always admired his strength, his kindness, how loved he is by many, able to prodly call himself a hero. If only Sora could…  
“Of course I remebered, I just uhhh, took my time remebering” His face had gone a little red, of course they would get him flustered.  
“But, anyway, Herc I came here to ask you something”  
“Ask me?” He looked surized.  
“Yeah, remember our last adventure? When you were feeling down and out and lost your strength, but then you jumped in and saved Meg?”  
“Hmm” He put his finger under his chin. “That’s tough. All I know is that she was in trouble and suddenly I wanted to give my everything to save her, but … It’s not like I can tell you how…” Sora looked defeated.  
“What’s wrong?”  
“Well… all my strength is gone from me too.. That’s why I came here to see you, you always seemed to bounce right back up after getting knocked down… I thought you could show me how at least…”  
“...” He kneels down to Sora’s eye level and places a hand on his shoulder. Sora looks at him, surprised.  
“Being a hero is not about being an unstoppable superhuman and getting endless praise. It’s about standing up when no one else can, being there for someone when they have no one. You see, it’s not all about the glory and praise you get, it’s about just simply being there for someone in thier darknest hour, talking them through a bad day, making them smile. So, Sora, don’t be so down on youself that you’re not as strong as the next guy, it’s a learning curve and strength isn’t just with fighing, it’s also what’s in here” He taps his chest.  
“My heart?” He puts his hand over where Herc pointed.  
“Yes, and you have a big one, I know for a fact you want to help people, even if it’s nothing in it for you. You see? You are a hero and strong one. I know you can get your strength back, you just need time” Well that was unexpected. He never really got told he was a good person before, not even by his own friends. And he never realized that simply being there for someone can be heroic in it’s own right. He blinked confused at first, but then gave Herc a confident smile. “T-thank you Herc” He almost wanted to cry, but now’s not the place for that. Herc then gave him an encouraging smile.  
“You’re a good person, Sora. I know you are. Now chin up hero.” He pats his shoulder and returns to his full height. Sora then gives him a recpectful salute, Donald and Goofy following suit.  
It was a nice moment while it lasted, when suddenly what was thought to be rubble from a building at first glance, but upon closer inspection-  
“Heartless!” Donald yelled and summoned his wand, soon the rest of the group followed his lead and rushed into battle. 

These Heartless looked different, usually fire allinged Heartless are just bright red, but these guys look more muted and have horns on thier heads, on fire also. The four of them rushed into the hoarde. Donald yelling spells, Goofy bashing with his shield, and Herc just straight up punching them. Sora did his best to catch up with them, but he can do only so much while ass is on fire. They cleared the area out eventually and even put out some of the fires around them, but then they heard the flapping of wings.  
“Hercules!” A familar voice cried. Herc turned at the call of his name just in time for Pegasus to fly up to them, Meg and Phill in tow. “You’re ok!” She jumped off his back and walked up to him and hugged him. “Boy, that didn’t look fun” She glnaced at thier surroundings.  
“No, not with the heartless involved, but we’re just lucky our friends showed up.” Meg looks at the trio.  
“Well, waddaya know? Our helpful trinity came help, we owe you a big thank you” She walked up to them and ruffled Sora’s hair, earning a giggle from the brunette and a chuckle from the rest of the group.  
“Sora, Donald, Goofy! It’s been awhile!” Phill piped up. “Glad to see you three still keeping at it. And in the nick of time too! I'm sure Herc filled you in on our situation right now” The Satyr continued.  
“Yup! That’s why we’re here” Donald proudly cried.  
“Herc could use the extra help, ahyuk”  
“And it’s what heros do! Help others without being asked” Sora smiled at Herc, getting a smile back from the demigod.  
“Meg, you need to stay someplace safe. We’ll search the city and make sure everyone is evacuated from the fire” Meg nods. “Be careful, Wonderboy”  
“I will” He flashed a reasurring smile and tuned to the trio. “So, you guys in?”  
“Yeah!” the three cried in unison.  
“Break a leg then” Meg smiled. “Heros” She added as she walked back to Pegusus.  
“Phill you should go too” Phill nodded. “Good luck, Heros!” He called as he jumped on with Meg. Herc walked up Pegesus and ran a hand down his mane, which he happily neighed at. “Keep them safe” The horse nods and flies off. 

“Heeelp!” 

Goofy turned toward the voice. “Is anyone there?!” The voice cried again.  
“Hey! I hear a voice!”  
“From where?” Goofy points. “Over that way” Herc looks among the rubble, he spots a little girl trapped among the rubble. “Thers a little girl trapped!” Sora sprang into action.  
“Let’s go!” He ran in that direction, but Herc stopped him.  
“Running’s too slow!”  
“Then what do we do?” Herc looks around, his eyes land on the fallen over statue and gets an idea and points at it. “Get on that”  
The three of them climb on it.  
“Is it safe?” Donald asks. “Hope so” Goofy doesn’t sound too sure about that. Sora climbs on last and gets settled.  
“Alright , now hold on tight!” Herc then starts to lift up the statue.  
“Wh-wha-whoooa! Herc, m-maybe we should.. I don’t think this is a good idea-” Herc aims and launches the statue in the direction of the girl, which resulted in a lot of screaming. “Oh no! Not agaaaaaaain!” Sora screamed just before he was out of earshot. 

~ 

The statue lands in a clearing and surprizingly the statue itself didn’t seem to break. The three jump off and make thier way through the rubble, Sora jumping ahead of them and climbing the rubble with ease.  
“Gwarsh, seems like Sora is already gettin’ stronger’”. Goofy comments as he looks at Sora scale the moutain of rubble.  
“This must be a new record” Donald chuckled.  
Sora jumped the tall rocks with ease, he himslef didn’t even know he could do that. He jumped up the girl and gave her a calm smile. “Hey, we’re here to help” He holds out his hand and smiles again, the girl nervously takes his hand and so he picks her up and jumps back down.  
“Thank you for saving me!” She bows and runs off somewhere safe. “Yeah no prob” He waves. “We’d better check around in case other people are stuck” The other two nodded and were about to walk off to save more people when they heard whooshing and the sound of heels clicking on stone, they turned to the noise.  
“ well, if it isn’t Sora and that rat’s pawns”  
“Maleficent! Pete!” They summon their weapons. “Are you the reason the Heartless are here?!”  
“Oh certinly not, boy, we have more important manners to attend to” Pete squints at Sora.  
“Say, Maleficent, I dunno about the duck or the dog, but Kig Keyblade here looks way punier that last time we saw him” Sora growled or at least tried to. “I’d say we squish while we still can.” Sora stepped foward in an attempt to scare them.  
“Hmm, waste no time with the boy. Too weak to be in the way. We have far more pressing matters to attend to” She turned away from them. Pete humed in thought. “Oh! We gots to find that black bo-” He got bonked on the head with her staff.  
“Hush, you buffoon! As for you three: we shall meet again… if the Keyblade weilder is strong enough by then…” She walks through the portal.  
“Yeah, better get your act together soon, or youse gonna get knocked down like the pipsqueak you are. Later, Twerps!” He follows Maleficent. Sora growls in fustration and runs after them, Keyblade ready to hit, but they disappear before he got close. He clenches his fist in fustration.  
“Sora?” Donakd asks, concerned. He just sighs.  
“It’s fine, I can take it, I always do..” He looks at his feet, Goofy puts a gloved hand on his shoulder. “It sure don’t sound like it. Did Pete sayin’ mean things bother ya?”  
“It’s fine! I can take it.” He looks away, pouting and crossing his arms.  
“Hey remember what Herc said, strength comes from the size of your heart, Sora” Goofy reassured.  
“And you have a big one!” Donald joined in. He smiles. “Thanks guys”  
After that, they rescued more and more people that were trapped among the fire and rubble and also got swarmed by Heartless along the way.  
They then came across a literal path of fire. Sora being Sora, he tried to walk through it to see how far he can go, that went about as well as one expects and so he burns himself and jumps back. “Ow!” He rubs his arms, that's gonna leave a mark for sure. “How are we gonna get through now…?” Donald slumped over.  
“Hmm” Goofy held up his shield to the fire, he seems fine for far. He takes another step foward, still fine. “Hey fellas. I got a crazy idea” He perked up.  
They each stacked theselves on the shield. “Ready?” The two nodded. Sora took and running start and jumped on, making them go foward and slide through the fire and the flames, unharmed, Sora streaing them away from obsticals and heartless, with of course bumping into rocks every so often.  
“Someone, Heeelp!” A female voice cried out. Sora perked up.  
“That way!” He steered the shield down and alley and flight of stairs and ened up in a garden like area.  
“Someone please help!” The voice cried out again. The three may thier way through the garden that seems almost untouched by the chaos around the rest of the city. They find a girl on top of a pillar, surrounded by the fire Heartless.  
“Hercules! Where are you?!” The heartless close in on her. The trio spring into action. “Help is on the way!” Goofy yells as they approach.  
“Hang on! We’ll put these hot heads out!” Sora started slashing at any Heartless that got too close. Donald and Goofy following his lead.  
“Huh? Who are you three? Where Hercules?”  
“Hey we’re Heros too!” Donald sassed back.  
It didn’t take long for them to deal with the Heartless. It was a small group. After the last one poofed away, the lady climbed down and peeked from behind the pillar. Once she deemed it safe, she jogged up to them. “Thank you so much, you’re so kind” She walked up to Sora and gently kissed his cheek and then backed up. “Keep training and one day you'll be great heros, just like Hercules.” She giggled and walked off to safety. Leaving Sora red at the face while Donald and Goofy laugh thier heads off.  
“Looks like someone has a fan already, ahyuk” Goofy commenst between giggles.  
“Awww Soras’ blushing” Donald poked him.  
“I’m not!” He totaly is and stomping away from them, pouting. Goofy and Donald following him, still laughing a good laugh. 

~

They saved more civilians as they made thier way through the ruins, slaying Heartless as they went. Goofy thought he heard strugging and alarmed Sora to check it out. As they walked into the building they found Herc, kepping the building from collapsing on a family.  
“Herc!” Sora runs in, but as he gets past the threashold, more supports collapse, blocking thier way out.  
“You need to get the people out!” Herc struggles to keep the rubble at bay. Sora summons his Keyblade. “On it! Can you keep the building up?”  
“Oh it” Herc smiles. Sora nods and rushes into action.  
The Heartless swarmed him and he slashed back, slicing anything that got too close to him or the family. He had to clear out the room so the people can get out safely, but that had proven difficult since they keep appearing and trying to get the family. Sora throws himself between them. “I'm not letting you take these people!” He charges at them, swinging with all his might. Once the hoard gets close enough he raises his Keyblade straight up. “Thunder!!!” His Keyblade glows and beams of crackling light blast into the creatures around him, releasing thier hearts. The civilian family watch in wonder. “He must be a god” They think. Herc smiles at him, proud he’s getting his strength back.  
But that moment of happines is short lived when the rubble shifts above Herc.  
“Sora! Get the people and go!” Herc shouts, about to lose grip.  
“But what about you?” Sora grabs the people and guides them to hole in the wall.  
“Dont worry about me, just go!” Sora nods and runs out with the people, looking back at Herc for a second before running out with the people.  
They ran to the front of the building, Sora checked the civilians. “Are you guys ok?” The people nod. Just as was about to ask about Herc the building collapses, surrounding the area with smoke. No Hercules in sight.  
“Hercules?!” Sora yelled at the fallen building. There was a moment of deafening silence, some tears formed in Sora’s eyes, Donald and Goofy patted his shoulders. He was about to let the tears fall when he heard footsteps from the rubble, they all looked up in hope.  
And as if thier prayers were answered, Herc walks out of the dust, unscaythed. Sora smiles brightly and runs up to him and hugs him. “You scared us!” Sora looks up at him, some tears in his eyes.  
“It’s nothing. That’s what these are for!” Herc strikes his iconic pose, in which Donald and Goofy mimic.  
Thier victory was short lived however. The sound of someone clapping aproaches them.  
“Oh, wow! Very nice, full marks” Xigbar approaches, clapping mochingly.  
“Go away!” Donald yelled, still strinking a pose.  
“No Organization!” Goofy added, also still posing.  
“You’re Xigbar” Sora summons his keyblade.  
“Aww, such a warm welcome gives me the warm and fuzzies.So then, does having and heart of light come with an extremely good insurance policy?” He strols up to them, all non-shalantly.  
“Just spit it out” Ready to fight if needed.  
“Oh but I did though. No good will ever come from putting other people first.” He quips.  
“I was able to save Meg’s life because I was ready to risk my own!” Herc defended.  
“Cause you got friends in high places, ya mean. Party tricks like that don’t fly for your average Joe” He waves a dismissive hand.  
“What do you know? You weren’t even there! If you were, you'd admire his courage.” The bruntet defended.  
“I don’t admire one guy leaping into danger if it means someone else might have to leap in to save him. Just lining up to lose out. Dooming others to take the fall with ya, one goes down they all go.” Sora was about to intergect, but Xigbar continued.  
“Oh and spare me the usual party line. Why yes, hearts are powerful united, but put too much in one place and some will end up breaking. Still Sora-” He points at him. “That doesn’t mean you should change, accept the power, your ability, that was given. Find the hearts within” He smirks.  
“Tell me why I should listen to you of all people!” Sora growls.  
“As if! You don’t got any choice but to follow this sweet little trail of breadcrumbs. And in the end, you’ll finally realize what destiny has in store for you. In fact, your reward might be right around the corner~ So close!” He laughs mischieviously as he disappares in the smoke.  
“Hearts breaking? ….” He looks at his hands and puts one to his chest. “Whose hearts?”  
“Sora..” Herc puts a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t let him bother you. He things cam get under your skin cuase he thinks he can, But we’ll prove him wrong, we’ll prove our sacrifice weren’t for nothing” He smiles. Sora cracks a small one himself. “You’re right”  
“Besides, we’re already proof enough!” Goofy added.  
“We’re a team! We can do anything as long as we're together!”  
“Yeah!” He fist bumps. The team then heads deeper into the city, but Sora walks a little slower and looks back at the fog. “.... what reward?...hmm” He decided not to think about it too much and jogs to catch up with the rest. 

~

After one final full sacn of the area, the team heads back to the main plaza to regroup with Meg. And right on cue she flies in on Pegusus.  
“Nice job, Wonderboy. We checked the whoel city, looks like everyone made it out safe”  
“That’s great, we did what we could” Meg looks at the trio.  
“Our little heros’ been busy little bees” She smiles at them, in which they playfully pose, getting a laugh out of the woman.  
Suddenly Pegusus neighs at something in the distance and the sky grows darker and distant thunder cracks.  
“Oh look… more trouble” Dark clouds swirl around the peak of Mt. Olympus.  
“Hades…” Herc clences his fist. The trio look at each other and nod. “Herc, lets go!” He looks back at them and smiles. “Right” 

The team make thier way up the moutain, fighting water Heartless that were causing the river to overflow and some rock Heartless that were hiding in the cracks. They reach a landing as the ground shakes. “It’s getting worse by the minute, my family needs me!” He whistles and Pegugus answers his call and swoops down and lands next to him. “Sora I’m gonna fly ahead. You’ve been a big but.. Leave the rest to me” He gives a thumbs up and hops on Pegusus.  
“Wait hold up. Family?” Sora asked.  
“Yeah, old man’s king of the gods” He siad casually as he rode off on Pegusus up the mountain. “Whaaaat?!” The three said in unison.  
“His father is a god...so does that… make Herc a god too?” Sora questioned.  
“I think it does” Goofy anwsered.  
“No wonder he’s so strong!” Donald piped up.  
“A god huh…..” Sora thought to himself. So being strong must come to him like second nature then. Then how is he supposed to even compare to Herc, comparing himself to a literal god. He shakes his head from the thought, not now Sora.  
“So Herc will be alright” Goofy added.  
“Will he?” Donald asked, looking at Sora.  
“No. The Organization’s here. Herc is gonna need us”  
“Good point, we gotta go!” Goofy yelled.  
“Cause heros never quit” The duck joined in and stands triumphitly. Sora thinks back to what Herc told him. On how he saved Meg-  
“With all our heart..” He huffs. “C’mon!” The duck and dog noded and the trio continue thier treck up the moutain. 

~

The cloud grew darker and darker the higher they got, it even started raining, causing Sora to lose his balance every once in a while and have Donald laugh at him. The almost constant rumbling didn’t help either. While the rain fell, Sora thought he saw the glint of giant red eyes in the distance and so he ran as fast as he can along the wet rock to catch up and maybe catch the Titan. As he was running ahead he heard Donald scream something, he skid to a stop and turned what he was saying.  
“Watch out!” Donald yelled and pointed to above Sora. Just as he looked he saw a boulder flying towards him and so he ran back to the overhang, Donald and Goofy were standing under. The boulder crashed agaist the leadge and crumbled a large chunk of the makeshift walkway. Sora huffed in fustration, but run ahead again, Donald and Goofy close behind as the overhang they were just under is hit with another boulder and crumbled, he looked back and gave a small sigh of relief as they reached a vertical face of the moutain, the Titan looming over them on top, throwing boulders at them.  
In a burst of stupidity and eagerness, Sora tried to climb the vertical rocks. That went about as well as you’d expect, he slid down after he was only inches off the ground. “Ughhhhhh” The brunette groaned. “Sora! We have to hurry!” The duck screamed. “I'm trying! It’s raining, that thing is throwing rocks at us and if you couldn’t tell, i kinda got my ablilies taken away so cut me some slack already!” Sora yelled, Donald looked taken back. “I'm really trying … ok” He sighed.  
“Uhhh sorry to interupt ya but” Goofy pointed. “That rock is headed towards us!” The other two turned to see a boulder flying right towards them. In a moment of panic, they all ran in diffenrt directions and at this point Sora was simply trying to get away as he jumped in a direction and ran with his eyes closed, which was stupid on it’s own in this situation but so far he was just running, the rain felt heavier and was beating on him. When he finaly opened his eyes he realized just why that was happening, he was sticking to the goddamn wall and before he could react more boulders came hurling towards them so he simply dodged then, still on the wall. As he was dodging he circled around and ran down and picked up Donald and Goofy, threw them over his shoulders and wall ran up the cliff, dodging rocks getting thown at them.  
“Gwarsh, Sora, I didn’t know you could do this!” Goofy piped up.  
“Me neither!” Sora yelled in panic, dodging more rocks and scaling the cliff with ease.  
The three finaly reached the top after all that running and screaming up the vertical cliff. They were about to take a sigh of relief, but the Titan roared and lifted its foot to stomp on them. “Look out!” Goofy called out as the three ran out of the way of the giant's foot. “We can celebrate later, let's take care of this hunk of rock”  
“Yeah!” The three sprang into action and climbed the Titan itself and wailed on the two heads, its stubby arms couldn’t reach them so they kept hitting the heads until it started to wobble over and ultimatly fall off the cliff. Sora grabbed his friends and jumped off onto a safer leadge and watched the Titan as it rolled off the moutain.  
“Yes!” He punches the air. “That’s one down!”  
“Thye’re not so tough by themselves” Goofy added.  
“That one was dumb as a rock” Donald quiped. The three then make thier way up the rest of the moutain, shivering from the rain.  
“So Sora” Goofy started. “Didn’t know you could run up walls like that”  
“Me neither…”  
“Maybe it’s one of the abilities you lost?” Donald asked.  
“Could be, but the thing is I don’t even remember being able to do that before, excpet during my Mastery exam, but that was in my dreams” Sora thought out loud.  
“Maybe it followed you out here?” Goofy inquired.  
“Hmm maybe, but why activate now? Why not before?” Sora crossed his arms.  
“Maybe because it was the right moment?” Donald added.  
“Hmm, could be…” Sora thought for a second.  
“Well ya have that power now, if ya didn’t we wouldn’t have defeated that first Titan, ahyuk”  
“Hmm I guess so” He does his casual Sora pose and starts walking again, the other following. 

~

By the time they reached the top, it was still raining and storming. They aproached the cloud level, it suddenly felt oddly warm as Sora stepped through the clouds and was met with a marble staircase with golen accents and the clouds around them painted in a warm yellow glow. Sora rushed ahead and up the stairs, excited to see the home of the gods and maybe even meet some of the gods themselves. As he runs up, Goofy and Donald close behind, they’re greeted with a pair of large, golden doors. As they get to the top the doors open and a golden light shines on them, it was almost blinding. Once their eyes get adjusted the cloudy realm was reavealed to them, clean marble pillars, gold accents, the clouds looking almost like water but also supporting other bulidings. The three look in awe of thier new surroundings.  
“Whoa…” Sora was first to break the silence. “Is this… Olympus?” Looks in wonder.  
“Gawrsh, it’s amazing!” Suddenly distant horns start playing, like someone was expecting them. They looked around in confustion, trying to find the source. As Sora took a step foward, a horde of Minotaur Heartless block their way. The three summmon thier weapons and rush into battle. As they thin down the horde of Heartless, Sora can hear faint voices singing and cheering, but paid no mind to them and continues fighting the thinning horde.  
~  
“This little man got spunk! I'll tell ya that!” The shortest of the Muses, watches Sora and the others from thier little balcony hidden amongst the clouds.  
“Shhhhh” Terpsinchore covered her mouth. “We know he’s the next big hot shot, but we have to keep it down” Melpnone added.  
“We don’t want Hades trapping us too” Clio interjected.  
“Cause right now, we’re the only ones that could possibly stop Hades” Calliope stated.  
“And how do you suppose we do that? Huh?” Thalia puts her hands on her hips.  
“Hmmm” The tallest thought for a moment. “Well we do have a capable hero right down there” Terpsichore walked to the balcony and pointed down at the group fighting the Heartless. Calliope snapped her fingers. “You’re right! We’ll inspire him as best we can from here and he and Herc will stop Hades for good!”  
“And make sure his story is never forgotten” Clio adds.  
“He does have a constellation of him, why not shine some more light on the little guy?”  
“Yes! Alright ladies, you know what to do” They all stand on the balcony and gently sing the same song they sang to Herc to hype him up.  
~  
The trio made thier way thru the godly landscape and find thier way at a moutain of clouds, throught thier treck thru the clouds, Sora kept hearing a gentle singing, like he was just out of hearing range but he can still faintly hear voices. He asked Donald and Goofy about it, but they claimed they didn’t hear anything. Sora just brushed it off by then and jumped along the building peices floating and up the hwere the storm clouds are. 

“I swear to you Hades, whing I get out of thi-” The god of gods got covered in lava and quickly got frozen over.  
“Nope, I’m the one in the big chair now, Zeusy” Hades summoned his chair and sat in it, smugly.  
“Don’t get too comfortable Hades!”  
“Huh?!” Hades looked at the source of the voice, only to find Herc on Pegusus flying towards him at high speeds. “We’re gonna stop you!” Sora and co. apeared at the gates, weapons summoned. Herc circled around and broke the chains of the other god that got imprizoned, said gods flew away to help restore Thebes.  
Hades turned into his iconic angry red and flared up some flames around him as he yelled at the titans to do something. The three three of them shuttered a little, but Herc jumped down and stood with them.  
“Sora! Donald! Goofy!” He looks at them. “Let’s go”  
“Yeah!” All three yelled and rushed into action! 

The Titans attacked with everything they got: lava, wind, and ice. Soras’ dealt with these guys beofre and so with his new wall climbing he was able to easily dodge and climb any rock and rubble they threw at him, all while still hearing the faint singing, but now it sounds louder. But he doesn’t mind it now, thier voices are nice and it’s a catchy toon to hear as he beats giant personifications of the elements into submission.  
It was mostly going smooth, until the rock titan has risen from the clouds and roared.  
“Uh oh, now there's four of them” Goofy sounded conserned. “So what? There’s four of us too”  
“Actually, I think I can make it five” Herc jumps up the obsibian pillar containing Zeus and pries it open with his hands, as it cracks, heavenly light shines from within and Zeus springs free, muc to Hades’ fear.  
“Thank you my boy” Zeus happily tells his son as he pats his shoulders. Sora, Donald and Goofy celebrate.  
“Now watch your old man work!” Zeus summons his lighting bolts and shoots the titans, causing them to run.  
This wasn’t enough for Herc however, so he run up to the tornado titan and grabbed its tail and started swinging it around, sucking the other titans in and thus launching them into space, in which they explode into fireworks. The gang celebrates and Hades is not pleased.  
“I can’t believe it! I put eighteen years into this plan and you’ve blipin’ runied it. I really don’t like you” He points to Sora. ”Just give it up already! You’ll nevr beat Herc, no matter how many times you try” He puts his hands on his hips. “You stay in the underworld where you belong!” Goofy added.  
“Go have the time of your afterlife” Donald screamed. Hades growled.  
“I did not come this far to be ridiculed by Zesy, high and mighty! His little sunspot! And an amine boy with his two clowns!” Hades turned red with anger.  
“You know what? I’ll just destroy you myslef!” Hades summoned flames around him.  
“Hades!” Herc called and the man himself brgrugingly turn around to face him. “The exit is that way” He guesters to the gates and Hades calms himself down and walks to the gates.  
“Oh and one more thing”  
Hades turns to look and nailed him in the face by Herc and falls over. “That’s for trying to wreck Thebes”  
“You’ll pay for this! I have very, very, long memory!” He summons a portal for himself back to the underworld. “I can still dunk your litt;e Nut-Meg in a river of de-” He gets cut off when Zeus throws a bolt at him before he disappears completely.  
The gates open and the trio and Herc run down the stairs back down to earth, but Herc hesitaed and looked back. Sora saw this ran back up to him.  
“Are you sure you want to leave all this behind?” Herc smiles.  
“I can see my family anytime I want. If I stayed, I’d have to be apart from the person I love most… and my life would be empty” He looks down the stairs and Meg is standing there, with Donald and Goofy, waving at them. Herc smiles. “I finaly know where I belong” He runs down the stairs and into Meg’s arms, ran dwon with him and smiles at the happy couple. “Oh Sora” He looks at the bruntte. “I never got back to your question, can I help?” Sora did his little relaxed pose.  
“Mmmm, it’s ok. I think I’m meant to figure it out myself. I’ll find my strength the way you found yours. Something to fight for… with all my heart.” He smiles. “I guess you did have the answer.”  
“Well you’ve got heart Sora, a lot of it. Keep being you and you’ll be stronger than ever.” He laughs.  
“Yeah, might even end up stronger than you are” He flexes his stick arms. The group laughs. 

~

As Sora and Herc parted ways, Sora to the ship and Herc and Meg to help Thebes relief. The trio were making thier way through the city when they noticed painted murals on some walls of a certine spikey haired boy saving the day. Sora smiled brightly and ran up to the mural. “Guys look!” He pointed, bouncing with excitment. “It’s me!”  
“Gwarsh, they really got your good side, ahyuk” Goofy complimented.  
“Hey! Where’s my mural?” Donald quacked loudly, angry he didn’t get one. Sora laughed. “Sorry Donald” He shrugs and walks ahead of them, looking at some more, what looks like freshly painted, murals, stautes, and even small altars with candles lit. The Muses watch as they walk by, smiling to them themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a kudos if you liked it, i'll try and update this as consistently as I can


	2. Fun times in Twilight Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been awhile, but online classes kinda got me fucked up, so i'm sorry of this took awhile, but anyway, enjoy~

Footsteps echo along the pillars that seem to have crystals growing in them, creating a very faint glow, but the moon on the horizion outshines the crystals and casts faint shadows of the pair that walks along the dark sand-like texture in the Dark World. Riku stops walking.   
“Tired?” Mickey asks. “Need a break? We can stop if you want”   
“No just…” He hesitates. “I’ve been here. I should know this place, but that all seems like it was another life” He looks off in the distance.   
“Well gee. Think of all you’ve seen!” He walks up to him and pats his knee. “All the things you felt. Why you’ve done years of growing in almost no time at all”   
“Mmm…. I remeber my first time here… I was so scared, but now” He looks at his hand. “My doubts and fears are gone, if anything… I feel exhilarated! And not because I have darkness in my heart… I know the rush all too well...but this is different, not adrenaline either. I know Master Aqua needs us …. But I’m ready! I’m in control now!” He looks at him with a small smile. “Maybe because you’re with me this time” Mickey shakes his head.   
“I don’t think it’s me. I think you finaly found that special strength. That strength to protect what matters to you”   
“What do you mean?”   
“Sometimes you care so much for somebody, other feelings disappear, like you with Sora. Then there’s no room for fear or doubt. Just to protect the one that mastter most to you” The sliveret smiles and faintly blushes, he looks at his hand.   
“Is that it?” He remebers what Terra told him, when he let him hold his Keyblade. “The strength to to protect what matters”.   
“Reminds me of a promise I made… with someone I met” He smiles.   
“With who?”   
“Can’t tell”   
“Soulds like a good memory” Mickey smiles.  
“Yeah… while we’re reminicing-does any of this look familar at all?”   
“Sort of, this places changes a lot since the last I was here with Aqua”   
“Hmm, it does look different now that I look at it”   
“Usually I would just follow my heart, and Aqua shine through” He turns and walks to the direction they were headed. “But… the closer I get… the hazier the connection”   
“You mean..”  
“Possibly… but we can’t give up yet, she’s like Sora”   
“...whaaaaat?!”   
“Oh no no no! Strong like Sora!” Mickey quickly saved. Riku sighed and they continued on thier treck in the dark until they found what looks like a beach.  
“this beach....” Riku says under his breath.   
“It’s gone” Mickey states.   
“What?”   
“Her trail… it’s gone dim” He serches the horizion, Riku looks around too.   
“I’ve been here too, with Sora..” He gasps. “This is where we got back to the realm of Light! Maybe she did too!” Mickey just shakes his head. “She’s gone deeper… somehwere I can’t see her.. And I don’t think we can do much deeper than this..” He looks at the moon.  
“So.. what now?”   
Before the mouse could even answer, little shadows start crawling out of the ground and srounding the pair, they summon thier keyblades, ready to fight.   
“Be careflu, Riku. In here, even the weakest Heartless can be dangerous.” Riku nods. The heartless look like they were about to close in, but then they didn’t. The two look at each other as the swarm of shadows run away from them? They almost lower thier keys when they start seeing them piling onto each other. The pile starts getting bigger and bigger until it takes the shape of a pillar.   
“They can do that?!” Riku readies his key.   
“Appearently, yes” Mickey readies his key too and the pair run at the pillar,   
Before the two could even get a spell off at the pillar, it slammed into Riku. Everything goes dark. 

He feels like he’s drowning, he can barely breathe, yet...he heard something.. someone.

Didn’t expect to see you again  
“What…?”   
Why did you even come here?   
“Somebody… needs me..”   
Do you want some help?   
“Who… are you?” He looks out onto the abyss.  
Me? I’m…

He couldn’t hold his breath much longer, he let his body go limp. 

~

“Riku.”   
…  
“Riku!”   
…  
“Riku wake up!”   
He opened his eyes to see Mickey, who looked sad, but then his eyes lit up k nj/k“The heartless here are stronger than we expected”   
“Seems like they’re getting more powerful by the day”   
“Mm, we should head to Master Yen Sid, get you a new Key and regroup with the others” Riku clenches his fist holding the key.   
“But… she’s still down here… alone… facing things like that” He walks to the water.   
“I know…but we can’t go any deeper, we’re one Keyblade short now”   
“...I know…. I know what it’s like to be lost in the dark… alone and scared… with nothing but your echoed screams yelling back at you in a voice you don’t recognise…How long are we supposed to leave her here?” He looks at Mickey.   
“...” He walks up next to him. “I know she’s still out there, if she’s anything like Sora, she’ll keep fighting a good fight”   
“...okay” He cracks a small smile, Sora always stood up against all odds. “She’s gonna be alright. Sora could fall into the dark and swim his way out, I know he can, so can Aqua”   
“And besides” He looks at him. “We won’t be long” Riku nods and walks closer to the shore and stabs his keyblade into the sand.   
“Can’t use this thing anymore, might as well leave it here… for the other me”  
“Wha…?” Mickey made a confused noise as Riku walks back the way they came. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the Mysterous Tower, the trio explained all that happend at Olympus.  
“I see...you could not regain your strength”  
“ I mean… still learned a lot though, I can run up walls now”   
“Regardless, you still need the power of waking” Sora make a defeated sound as he looked at the floor.   
“Well, it can’t be gone forever, maybe something’ll trigger it real soon” Goofy inquired.   
“Hmm, like what?”   
“Maybe a bonk on the head!” Donald was quick to reply.  
“Perahnds it’s something as simple as that” The old wizard thought.   
“What with everyone wanting to hit me with things?!” The others giggled.   
“WHenever you are in need, magic happens, that's one of your greatest strengths, Sora. That and your ability to unite the hearts around you”   
“You make it sound like an accident” He deflates, but then the sound of foosteps is heard and the group turns to the sound.   
Riku opens the door and Mickey walks in, Riku close behind and closes the door. Donald and Goofy rush to get to Mickey, knocking Sora over in the process, unnessary btw.   
“Your Majesty!” They stand up to him.   
“Hey fellas, what’ve you three been up to” Sora tries to walk between Donald and Goofy but he got pushed back to the floor by Goofy with a thud.   
“We went to Olympus to vistit Hercules!”  
“And to figure out how get Sora’s powers back”   
“But... it was a big dissapointment” Donald not so subtely whispered to him. Ok. That hurt. That hurt a lot. He always felt like the butt of almost all of Donald’s jokes and honestly, it’s getting almost unbearable at this point. He was gonna lay there for a few moments longer until Riku walked up to him and offered him a hand. He smiled and took it, standing back up.   
“Aw, what a shame and well…’ The mouse glances at Riku.  
“We didn’t do any better..”   
“Did ya figur out where Master Aqua is? Cause Yed Sid told up that’s why you left”   
“Anything?” Rikue and Mickey look at each other, sadly. Sora listens, his mind thinking about something else.  
“We know she made it out as far as the beach me and Sora visited, but that’s where her trail ended”   
“Meaning…?” Sora joined back in the converastion.   
“All traces of her vanished into the Abyss…”   
“So…” Sora started, he felt a pang in his chest. “She’s gone?”   
“No, Sora was dragged into the dark once, but I went in after him. So I think if we get someone really close to Aqua, they can make the dive, and couls reach her down there” Mickey shakes his head. “I’m not sure who’s left to ask…Ventus is hidden, Aqua’s the only one whi know’s whereand… no one’s seen Terra in ages, Aqua was the last” Riku thought for a moment.   
“So… she’s the key to finding all three”   
“Yes” Yed sid spoke up. “Theur teacher, Master Eraqus, would have been anither possibliy… if Xeahnort had not marcilessly struck him down..” A moment of silence fell upon the group.   
But then Sora felt a pull, a sudden need to save her, with all his heart. He turns to Riku and Mickey. “I’ll save her” He confidently, Goofy and Donald look taken back.   
“You can’t!” Donald exclaimed.   
“That’s gonna be super hard without the power of waking!” He suddenly snapped out of his haze and looked at them.   
“Huh?... oh, sorry… no idea why that just popped out” He scratches behind his head. Mickey looked at him, that tone of voice sounded familar. “Well… it was pretty convincing”  
“Yeah, better not let us down” Riku added.   
“Sora, you must focus on regaining the power of waking. Rike and Mickey, I recall that Master Aqua jorneyed to many worlds and connected with many, a link why be out there”   
“Good plan sir, Riku and I can re-trace her steps and find any clues” He looks at Riku. “But, first…”   
“We got hit pretty hard” Riku picked up. “Mickey’s was damaged and mine got shattered in half”   
“So we’re gonna need replacemnts before we can go back” The wizard thought for a moment.   
“In that case, rendezvous with Kairi and Lea, tehy are training under the tutelage of the wizard Merlin” They both nod and bow. “Also-” He poofs two suitcases into existance, one brown with pink accents and the other red with bkack accents. “Deliver these to them”   
“Are they..?”   
“Yes they are the same as the ones I gave you. Special vestments to shield the two from the dark” They nod and take the cases.   
“What? None for us?” Sora looked a little sad.   
“Sora! Don’t bug him like that, it’s inconsiderate” Well it’s inconsiderate when someone’s giving new stuff out to everyone except you, but ok.   
“Settle down, I have new clothes for you too, Sora. A gift from the good fairies” The wizard smiles and summons another suitcase, with Sora enblem on it.   
“I knew you’d come through for me! Thanks!” He runs up and happily takes the case.   
“Those are no ordianary garments, Sora. Like before, they have a very special power within, so it took some extra time to prepare them. In addition, there's a gift from Chip and Dale inside” Sora was exceited of what it could possibly be.   
“Cool, ok!” He slinged it over his shoulder. Riku giggled. “Happy now?”   
”Yup!” Sora smiles brightly.   
“Now then, you are all now ready to proceed, now go mark the beginning of a new journey, I wish to give you this” He poofed a charm into his hand. “Think of it as a good luck charm, made just for you” Sora looks at it as he holds it gently. “You have a gift Sora, for connecting with others, and with this” He looks at him. “Will make that gidt much stronger. Now” They all stand at attention. “May your heart be yoru guiding key”   
“See?” Goofy whispered. 

~~~~~~~~

Donald and Goofy are sitting in their respective chairs, waiting for a certine brunette to finish changing in the back. Donald inpatiently tapping his foot and grumbling to himself. “Bwah!” He stands in his seat. “Sora! What’s taking so long?!” He yelled from his seat.  
“Just a minute!” He yelled from the back, along with the sound of scissors.   
Mintues passed and Sora finally emerged from the bathroom in his new outfit and new hair style.   
“Gwarsh Sora, you look nice” Goofy complimented.   
“You took that long for a haircut?” The duck looks unamused.  
“Hey! I tried” He pouts a little as he takes his seat on his chair.   
“So where to next?” The duck asks.   
“Ummmmmmmmmm…” He hums in thought.   
“Oh come on. Would you get serious?”   
“Hey, I'm trying! Things like this take time”   
Sora hums in thought more, maybe summon another gate? The few secomds of silence was interuped when they heard a muffled song playing, they look around in confustion. Jimmny jumps out of Sora’s hood. “Sora, I think it’s coming from you”   
“What?” He checks his pockets and pulls out the source of the music. “What’s this?” He titls his head looking at the small rectangle, it matches his clothing and has a little crown on it.   
“Beats me! Make it stop” Donald walked to the drivers chair. Sora shakes against his ear.   
“Uhhh maybe this?” He taps the green button and dale appears on screen.   
“Hurray! He picked up!”   
“Dale?”   
“Hey Chipper! Got em on the line!” Chip slides into frame.   
“Well it’s about time!”  
“Chip?” How are they talking through this small box? Are they trapped?   
“You gotta answer the phone Sora! Or we can’t give ya updates. We got lots of stuff to tell you!”  
“That’s why we asked Master Yen Sid to make sure you got this gummi phone we made ya, so we’s be able to stay in touch with you all the time”   
“And take pictures!”   
“Oh you finaly finished it!” Jimminy piped up. “Say with this, we talk to each other from across worlds. In fact, I can even write my jorunal on it” He looks happy.   
“Wow! Sounds pretty useful, thanks, so what’s so important to call for?” The twins bounced.   
“Back when you and Riku jumped through sleeping worlds, Riku recovered some hidden reserch data that the real Ansem hid inside you.”   
“Ansem’s code!”   
“Mm-hmm, we’ve been workin our tails off trying to crack it and see what it says” Suddenly the screen changed to someone with pale blue hair covering one of their eyes. “The data has been encrypted, so we’ve only deciphered some of it”   
“Huh?”   
“Oh… I guess we haven’t spoken yet, I’m Ienzo, you prpabably know me as Zexion, but… that’s not me anymore, I regret all the things I’ve done with the orgination. Once I got my heart back I wanted to atone… So now I’m helping you guys in the research I have here. The whole reason we’re here is because you defeated our Nobodies, thereby “recompleting” us in a way, we casted off our hearts by choice to join the ranks… but we didn’t know Xemnas/ Xehanort were deciving us”   
“Xemnas?” Sora leans foward.   
“Ah! He’s with them!” Goofy proclaimed.   
“No anymore” Ienzo reassured. “They have no hold over us any more, now we’re back to being students of the heart, like before all this began.” Seems like Donald isn’t buying it. “Yeah right” The duck crosses his arms.   
“Well now that I think about it, Axel’s on our side now” Goofy thought out loud.  
“We have friends we want to bring back too, just the same as you. To do that, we have to work together. In the spirit, we found some intriguing data in the bit of code we deciphered”   
“What’s it about?” The brunette asked.   
“You, Sora. In order to piece you lost memories back to together our teacher, Ansem, took a vey close look at your heart, and what we found out was, that your heart doesn’t just belong to you”   
“What?!” Goofy and Donald gasped. “Gwarsh Sora, you don’t look surprised” Goofy added.   
“Yeah… honestly I thought so too… there’s another heart in mine. I think it must be Roxas’s, just like Namine is still inside Kairi’s” He told the scientist.   
“Interesting… We’’ no one know your heart better than you. To be honest, we still have many questions on our side, but.. Your idea has merrit. It’s amazing enough you and your Nobody are able to coexist. If you share a heart… no one wonder someone as unique as you caught Ansem’s eye” Sora felt a little special, but also not, Roxas is still in his heart, aching to be free again. “We’ll keep investigating on our end, I’ll be in touch” Ienzo cut out and Chip and Dale are back.   
“Okeydokey, we’ll give you fellas a ring if there’s anything else. Remeber me an’ Chip and the guys and Radiant Garden and his Majesty and Riku are never far away”   
“And Jiminy, would ya do us a favor and teach Sora how to use the phone?”   
“Can do!” The criket saluted as the chipmunks signed off. Sora sat in thought for a moment.   
“I have to find Roxas and save him...the others are following Aqua’s heart. So I’ll follow Roxas’s!” The animals happily nodded.   
“Trust the guidence in your heart, That’s what Master Yen Sid said” The brunette noded excitedly.   
“So where to?” Donald asked.   
“Oh, that’s easy!” He stood up and summoned his Keyblade and aimed it at the space before them. 

~~~~~~~~~~

The gentle orange-yellow glow of the setting sun shines upon the quiet town, the gentle bells ring and converations between people make it seem less quiet, the trams as well provide a homey ambiance. The three walk along the cobblestone road, under an overpass.  
“Gawrsh,” Goofy broke the silence. “We forgot to fill in the gang on what happend, should we go back?”  
“Typical Sora”“You guys were there too, why didn’t either of you guys tell them? Huh?” Sora walks in his iconic Sora pose. The animals pause looking at each other. “Besides, the other have enpugh on their plates as it is, why go stressing them out?” The brunnete continues walking. “The three of us know how to handle a couple of old adveraries, right?” He says confidently.   
“Yeah.. I guess” Donald thought.   
“But didn’t that thing Pete and Maleficent said bother ya?”   
“C’mon it’s Pete, it’s proabaly not that bad” A tram passes by as they reach the plaza.   
“Oh! The trams are still here!” He jogged up to the passing train.   
“Sora, it hasn’t been that long” Donald explained.   
“Hm, feels like it” He turns back to them.   
“Maybe you’re feeling what Roxas feels ‘cause he misses home and we’re here and all” They nod. “Actually, I ran into him in the sleeping worlds, it was like… looking into his heart for the first time” He crosses his arms.   
“And he was in the datascape too”   
“Uh-huh it was a test to see if your data version was ready to face the hurt that ya caryy inside”  
“Was I ready?.. I do know hurt. When I lost Riku and Kairi, and later.. When I lost the Keyblade… and you two just left me like that…” He cletches his fist, that part still stings. “Having no to turn to was the worst kind of hurt...but that just shows how much you mean to me.. How Riku and Kairi and Roxas mean to me” He cracks a small smile.   
“So carrying a little hurt can’t be that bad, hurt is a part of caring” He holds his hand over his chest.   
“You sound like data-Sora did” Donald commented.   
“Well any Sora is still Sora” They look at him.   
“So wait.. If Roxas feels something, then we must be in the right place! Roxas I'm gonna find you!” He confidently yells.   
Then he felt another twang of heart. A voice. 

Do you seek our Leige? 

His eyes went big and gasped.   
What is it?” Donald asked. He was about to reply when he heard something behind him. Goofy called out the dusks and the three sprang into action, maikng easy work of the nobodies.   
After they settled down from the fight, Sora stood in thought.   
“Hmm… What was that voice?... I know I heard it”   
“I didn’t hear it” The duck piped up.   
“Ya sure it wasn’t the wind or somethin’?” Goofy asked.   
“I’m pretty sure...” Then they started hearing familar voices run towards them.   
“See? Voices!” The two just look at him concerned. But then they heard rapid footsteps heading in their direction. They turn to look and see the Twilight gang running at them with the demon tide not far behind.   
“What? Hayner? Pence! Olette!” The three run past them. “Hey Sora! Byr Sora!” Hayner greets and runs away with the other two. Sora faces the tide. “Go! We’ll handle this”   
The swirl of heartless floats around the buidlings, Sora with his new walling climbing abilities, runs up the wall to catch up to it while Donald screams spells from below. He thought he was doing pretty well until it smacked him into the wall and then proceeded to throw him around like a rag doll, slamming him into and surface it can. Donald could only watch in horror as Goofy tries to distract it and leave Sora alone. The twilight gang could only watch in horror from behind a building.   
“Oh my god..” Olette says under her breath.   
Once the tide has enough it slams Sora into the ground, leaving a crater and aingured Sora, it focuses on Goofy now and chases him. Donald then runs up to the broken boy, covered in scratches and bruises. “Sora!” He casts cure on him. “Are you ok?”   
“...” Sora just stares at the sky, his cuts and bruises mostly healed. “Ow..” The brunette sits up and uses his keyblade to stand himself up.   
“Sora you can’t go back out there! You’re too weak” The duck tried to council him. Weak. Too weak. Tooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweaktooweak. 

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” The brunette screamed at the top of his lungs and charged at the demon tide, sparks of lighting crackles around him, his clothing starts to look yellow and a checkered pattern on his pants appear. He’s so filled adrealine and anger and doesn’t even realize with Keyblade changed into a shield. He wails on the demon tower with full force, lighting his eyes as heartless evapurate from his blows.   
Donald and Goofy just stand there and watch, having a newfound respect for the brunette. The twlight gang also watch in wonder. They didn’t know Sora was capable of anything like this.   
And the thing is, Sora just keeps going, going unitl the tide itself retreats. He was half tempted to chase after it until Goofy put a hand on his shoulder, his adrenaline rush receading and his clothing going back to its normal colors. He looks at the two and blinks in confustion, about to ask what the hell was that, but the twilight gang ran up to them.   
“That was so cool!” Hayner yelled.   
“We didn’t know you could do something like that!” Olette excitingly bounces.   
“The way you were like-hwah! Boom! Pow!” Pence mimics some of his moves. “It was crazy!” The brunette just scrafts the back of his head, flustered from the compliments. “Uhh thanks, have no idea where all that came from honestly” He nervously laughs.   
“Sora!” Donald runs up to him, Goofy close behind.   
“Sora! That was amazing!”   
“You’re getting stronger by the day!” Donald jumped happily. Funny how he was calling him weak a few minutes ago.   
Sora turns to the twilight gang. “Hayner, Pence, Olette. It’s been ages” He runs up to them.   
“Hm? Hasn’t been that long” Donald walks up to him.   
“You see?”   
Donald! Goofy! How are you?” Olette pipes up. “We’re good.”   
“Howdy there Olette” Good greets.   
“So does this mean weird stuff’s going down again?” Pence asked.   
“You kidding Pence? When have we ever seen a tornado of shadowy blobs before? It’s not weird. This is underprecedented” Hayner bumbed in.   
“Hmm, I guess it is. The creature from last time were bright white, these things must be new. Man I can’t wait to get to Sleuthin’” He cracks his nuckles.   
“You know we’re done with the project now, right?” Olette smiles. “Whatever’s going on, you wouldn’t be here unless you had a good reason” She continued.   
“Which is?”   
“Well… actually We’re looking for Roxas”   
“Roxas?” Olette questions.   
“That’s funny… I don’t remember a Roxas… but the name sounds familar” Hayner stated.   
“Maybe we bumbed into him somewhere” Pence added.   
“Uhh” Donalnd and Goofy look at each other. “That’s one way to put it”   
“Actually he mighta been friends with another verion of ya” The dog takes out a photo of them posing in front of the old mansion, with Roxas. Hayner gets a closer look at it.   
“Yeah,we have the same one” Pence takes out an identical photo, minus Roxas.   
“Oh yeah! The other Twilight Town!”   
“It’s like those “spot the differences” puzzles, but super easy. I guess in that town, we’re friends with this “Roxas” person”   
“Sora, let us help you track him down” Hayner suggested.   
“Really?” Sora’s eys light up.   
“Sure he seems like a cool guy” Hayner looks at the picture. Sora laughs.  
“Yeah he is” He smiles.  
“Great. Then let's all go ask around for him, if alternate-us knew Roxas, then maybe alternate-others did too”   
“Mm-hmm Sora, you three should go to the old mansion, it’s the place in the photo, we’ll cover places in town” Olette suggested.   
“Thank you guys so much” Sora smiled. “Oh!” He digs through his pocket. “I got this phone thing that takes pictures” He takes it out and shows them. “Wanna snap a photo while were still here” The gang happily accepts.   
They pose in front of a wall, with Donald holding the camera.   
“Mmmm, Why do I have to do it?”   
“Tough luck, you drew the short straw” Sora sassed.   
“Don’t worry Donald, im sittin’ out the photo with ya”   
“Then you take it!” He shoves the phone in Goofy’s gands and stomps over to the group and makes an angery face.   
“Everybody smile! A-hyuck!”   
~Snap~  
“Wow, that came out great!” Pence commented.   
“Okay, we’d better start asking around. You start by checking out the old mansion, we’ll catch up” Hayner smiles.   
“Got it” 

~

They made thier way through the town, Sora hopped on buildings, talked to some locals and then ended up finding a sewer entrance and walked in to end up on the other side of the wall. The three walk through the woods outside of the small town, they notice some brightly colored fruit on the floor and walk up to investigate, there was a lot of fruit actually. Sora kneels down to look at the fruit, Goofy notices some movement in the trees above them, Money heartless were closing in on something on a branch.   
“Heartless!” Goofy yelled. The rest of the group look up.   
“What are they doing?” Sora squints at them, Goofy looks closer. They surrounded a little rat.   
“On that branch! They have em surrounded!”   
“Oh no!” The three summon thier weapons, getting the attention of the Heartless.   
Sora effortlessly runs up the tree and slays the heartless around the rat as the other two take care of the ones on the ground. Once they’re gone, he offers his hand to the rat. “It’s ok, we’re here to help” He smiles, the rat scurried onto his hand and on his shoulder. Once the ones on the ground were dealt with, Sora lets the rat scurries down his arm and onto the ground.   
“Well, take care” He smiles and walks off the mansion.   
Remmy looks at the fruit around him, he can’t carry this back to the restaraunt one by one, that would take all day. He looks at his saviors as they walk away, he hatches an idea. He scurries to catch up to the brown haired one and climbs up his form, onto his head and grabs a few strands of hair and pulls on them. Making the brown haired person turn on his heel, much to his dismay.   
“Whoooa-wh-what the-” He stomps his way to the fruit and picks it up. “What am I doing?!” He cries.   
“Lookie here! That little feller’s parked on your head!” Goofy notices.   
“Huuuuh?” Sora forcfuly turned around. Remmy pulled more hair. “Would you cut tha-whoa” He forced him to pick up another fruit. Donalds laughs.   
“You’ve been hijacked!”   
“Ya know, maybe he wants you to help pick up the fruit for him” Goofy suggested and Remmy happily nods.   
“Ok, that’s fine, but I can do it myself” The brunette whined. Remmy then scurries off his head and into his hand.   
“So I just have to pick up the fruit?” mmy eagerly nods. “Right then” He turns to the fruit and starts picking it up.   
After the fruit is nicely piled up, the trio kneel down to his level.   
“So , what’re you gonna do with all this anyway?” The brunette asked. Remmy makes a little chopping motion and sprikles something. Neither of them know what he’s reffering to. “Well, take care then” The trio stand up and continue thier way to the mansion. 

~

After a few minutes of walking they finaly reached thier destination in the middle of the woods. They passed the stone walls and into the courtyard, Sora looked up at the old building. He saw white curtains move gently with the breeze. He felt another pull at his heart, he looks down and puts a hand on his chest. He feels Roxas stirring within, he wants to go back home, with his friends. Hopefully soon Rox.   
“Whaddya think guys? This place is even creepier than I remember” Sora asked.   
“Well, they do say this place is haunted” Goofy commented, Donald shivered at the thought.   
There was a faint moment of silence as they look at the mansion before them, seemingly lost in thought, until something touched his shoulder.   
“Hey there!”   
“AHHHHHHH!” The trio jumped at the sudden voice and turn to look at Hayner, Pence, and Olette.   
“Thanks for the heart attack!” He pouts at them.  
“Aww did I scare you~?” The blond teased. Sora just gasped as Donald squared up to him. “Not a chance!”   
“Our bad” Olette giggles.   
“So anyway, how’d it go? Any leads?” The trio looked at each other.   
“Nah, the asking around thing was a total bust” Pence shakes his head and Hayner look up at the mansion.   
“This old place is all we got”   
“You guys ready?” Olette asks.   
“Another Twilight town awaits,” Pence remarked.   
~  
The six of them enter the deepest level of the mansion and are welcomed by the quiet sounds of the computers. Pences perks up and runs to take a seat.  
“The password was Sea-salt ice cream right?” He types it in the terminal. “Ok, i'm in, let’s get that transporter working-” The screen glows red and beeps at them. “Aw man, it’s protected”   
“From what?” Sora leaned in.   
“I guess from us? We can’t use it to get to the other town”   
“Why not?” Hayner bursted out. “It wored before! We sent Sora there!”   
“Well that was then, this is now” Pence snapped back.  
“There’s no other way?” Olette asked.   
“Mmm, none that I know” The group sat in silence for a second before a phone went off. Sora dug through his pockets and took out the small box and answered, Ienzo’s face popped up.   
“Hello again, Sora, you wouldn’t happen to be at a computer right now would you?”   
“Huh? Well yeah… but how’d you know?”   
“While I was decrypiting the the code, I noticed someone logged in from another terminal, figured it might’ve been you”   
“Oh! Yeah the log terminal” He pretends to know what he said.   
“You don’t know what he said!” Donald called him out.   
“OH and you do?” Sora sassed.   
“I know I haven’t got a clue” Goofy said. Ienzo chuckled.   
“Then uhh.. Logged in then?”   
“Oh Hi there, this is Pence” Sora held up the phone to him. “I logged into the computer”   
“Oh good, as long as it’s someone we can trust” He smiles.   
“Yup, but we’re kinda stuck here, one of the programs is protected so we can’t run it”   
“Which program?” Hayner groans. “The transporter to the other Twilight Town! It’s the only way to find Roxas, you gotta help us” Ienzo was taken back for a second becuse he caught onto a word.   
“Another Twilight Town? And “Transporter”? He thought for a moment. “Ok… a town made of data”   
“A datascape! Fellas..” Jiminy hops out.   
“Mm-hmm, we’ve seen one too”  
“Hmm maybe I can do something, Pence let’s set up a network the adress is…” 

~

Sora was softly snoring thru the entire setup, yes he napped while standing up.   
“aaaaand , ok sharing is enabled” Sora blinked his eyes open.   
“Huh? Were you able to fix it?” He tiredly blinks.   
“Now that our networks are connected, I can control the terminal from here and change the privilages”   
“And Roxas?” Sora asked hopefully.   
“Tes, for the virtual world to be completely realized, Ansem would’ve included Roxas’s full data alongsit the town. Meaning, somewhere on your end there’s a log that cam- uhhh…. Basically we can translate the code faster, and we can look at the irtual TT while we’re at it” He smiles.   
“Ok great! I can’t computer so… you do that” He sighs. “Glad you’re follwoing along, bit don’t worry we’ll handle it. The chipmonks will help me on my end, I’ll call you back as soonas he know anything more”   
“Thank you so much Ienzo” He smiles at him. “Oh and before I forget- a bit of troubling news. It’s about one of the former members, Even, but you knew him as Vexen. He was recomplted like the rest of us, but was still unconious, but after Lea left, he was gone. We searched everywhere ..but he’s just gone. And I’m starting to worry”   
“Could he be.. On thier side?”   
“A possibility. He’s a deviuse researcher, not caring for any sides as long as he can do his research with no leash. Be careful Sora” The brunette nods.   
“Thanks” He hangs up.   
“Oh no! We got work! I completely forgot” Hayner runs to the stairs.   
“Hey, what about this?”   
“Both are important, we’re gonna need cash for the beach, and don’t forget about the pretzels, gotta get four now right?” Pence counts on his fingers. “Ooooh, I get it”   
“He’s thinking ahead” Olette pipes up.   
“Later Sora” Hayner runs up the stairs.   
“See ya!” He waves.   
“Bye you guys!” Olette follows the blonde.   
“Since I’m managing the computer, you guys are in charge of my share”   
“No pretzel for Pence~” Hayner runs out with Olette, giggling.  
“Hey!” He sighs. The trio giggle at him. 

~

The three walk out of the masion and pass the stone threshold when they hear a voice.   
“So, you think you can bring Roxas back?” He jumped at the sudden voice and turned to look. Evil Ansem wasthere, leaning ahainst the wall. Sora summoned his Keyblade and was about to run at him until another portal appeared, Xemnas walks out.   
“Roxas should’ve never existed in the first place, what you seek is impossible”   
“You’re a nobody yourself! You exist, why can’t Roxas?And he does exist! Inside my heart” Sora growls.   
“And in the unlikely event the two are seprated, where can you put the heart?”   
“Well…. He used to live in the other Twilight Town, right? We can just put him there” Ansem chuckles.   
“Do you realize what you’re saying? That town is just data. You would be putting him in a lie of a town that he thinks is real, yet in reality no one knows he exists. You would be keeping him in a pretty prision where he thinks he’s important to someone” Xemnas sneers.  
“But he is important! Important to me and Axel and everyone else! There are hearts all around us that care about him!” Sora defends and Goofy just hums.   
“Ansem and Xemnas used to be the same person and they exist just fine without each other, I don’t see why you and Roxas can’t be the same” Goofy inquired.   
“Yeah!” Sora confirmed.   
“Yeah! You tell ‘em Goofy” They turn to the “twins”. Ansem just smirks and chuckles.   
“Then by all means, go ahead”   
“Nothing would make us happier than the return of our precious number thirteen” He says monotonely.   
“You wish! He’ll never answer to anyone, not again” He steps foward. The “Tins” shake thier heads.   
“Still so blind. A Nobody is what’s left behind when the heart is given to the dark. There is only one way to bring your Roxas back” He points at Sora. “You give up your heart. So, Sora have you finally decidedd to call upon the darkness in your heart?” The white haired male smirks.   
“What…?” Sora just stares.   
“Go on then” Ansem speaks up. “The shadows are never out of reach, they’re much closer than you know” He nods his head and Neo Heartless appear behind the trio. Xemnas waves a hand and Dusks pop out too. Sora looks around and huffs at them.   
“Now set your heart free” The two say in unison as they disappear in a patch of darkness. Leaving them the Heartless and Nobodies to fight. Sora huffs in fustration and readies his Key.   
“It’s not darkness, not if it helps him!” He rushes into the horde. 

~ 

After the fight is over, Goofy and Donald celebrate, but Sora just has a far off stare into the woods.   
“Herc said….”With all my heart” Ok… then all my heart it is. I’m getting Roxas out” He turns to face the other two.   
“Ya with me? Donald? Goofy?” The two’s faces lit up.  
“You betcha!”   
“I don’t know what Ansem or Xemnas want, t we better tell the others” The two nod.   
“Let’s head back to tehn” Goofy adds. “Right” The three make thier way through the woods, not seeing Remmy or the fruit pile but Sora pays no mind as they run through the sewers, back into town. 

“Well bless me bagpipes! If it isn’t the laddies who resued me chef” Donald and Goofy sckid to a hault at the scottish accent and turn to look.   
“Uncle Scrooge!” Donald runs up to the older duck and traps him in a hug. Goofy and Sora walk up to them.   
“Wait… didn’t he ice cream in Hollow bas-er Radiant Garden?”  
“That’s right, but Uncle Scrooge is what you call a world traveler”   
“Oh cool, how are ya Uncle Scrooge?” He idlely poses.  
“Oh, hello, Sora!” He pats Donald and walks up to him. “You’s lookin’ hale and hearty. Word around the street is ye on another grand adventure with these two” He looks at Donald and Goofy. “Hope Donald isn’t makin a menace of himself” He taps his cane on the ground.   
“Aw why did you have to say that?” Donald deflated.   
“So Uncle, what’s that you were sayin’ about a chef?” Goofy asked.   
“Oh! Right, right. The chef of me bistro here wanted to show ye his appreciation, so” He holds the cake box he was holding up to the brunette. “He baked ye a somethin’!”  
“What is it?” He opens it to find a cheesecake like tart with a spiral of fruit designed on and a clear shein.   
“Wow! Cake!” The trio happily yelled. Scrooge’s hat shakes a little.   
“The whole cake? For us?” He notices the shaking hat. “Hm?”   
“Aye, settle down…” He looks back at the trio. “The chef wants ye to know it’s not a cake, but a tarte aux fruits”  
“He does?”   
“Eh, Why keep it under me hat?” He takes off his top hat. “May I introduce… Little chef!” Remmy jumps on the lowerd hot hat and looks at the trio happily.   
“Oh! It’s you!” Sora happily greeted.   
“You opned a bistro in Twilight Town?” Donald questioned.   
“Aye, It started a little while ago, when I was enjoying one of the best meals in me life. When I asked to speak to the chef, I met this wee genius. As it turns out, he wanted to expand his culinary horizons. So I thought: that’s an opportunity and financed the whole operation” Remmy made some guesters to Sora. “Ooh, I think he wants to cook some more for ye. Fetch some ingredients, especially the unsual kind”   
“That’ll be fun! Like a scavenger hunt” Goofy piped up.   
“An’ more the merrier. The marks of truly great chef is creating masterpices out of anything ye find. You three can start right here in town”   
“We’ll do anything to try more of Little Chef’s food” The other two nod, Little Chef blushes a little and scratches his fur.   
“The tarte did look delicous, ok! The hunt is on!” Scrooge nods.   
“Knew I can count on ye laddies”

~

After they gathered as many ingridients as they can from the area, they gathered back at the bisto, where Scrooge and Chef were waiting. Sora was about to walk in to put it in the kitchen, until someone yelled.  
“Hey! Guys!” Hayner and Olette run up to them, Scrooge walks up to them.   
“Hey boss, done with the posters” Donald amde a confused noise.   
“Aye, good work kids”  
“Y’all work for Uncle Scrooge at the bistro?” Goofy asked.   
“Umm.. do we?” He looks at Olette.   
“He gave us a short job putting up posters” She takes one out and unrolls it.   
“Mr. MuDuck’s hosting an open-air flim festival in the courtyard, he’s showing movies in the old cartoony style, cool huh?” The three look at the poster, why was his name on it?   
“Oh, Sora, hold your phone up to the poster, you’ll get something on your phone”   
“”Kay” He holds his phone up the small square in the bottom corner.   
“There, now you downloaded a promo game for the movie, you can try it later” She puts the poster back in her bag.   
“You did all this Uncle Scrooge?” Donald asks.   
“Of course, laddie. Provide a bit of entertainment and then give them a cozy place to relax” He points to the bistro with his cane. “Like me bistro here” He points at them. “They’ll all be happy an’ hungry an’ eager to spend thier money” He laughs.   
“Uncle Scrooge…” Donald deflates  
“I always wondered how he keeps customers comin’ into businesses over and over” Sora nods.   
“Oh yeah, I’m no proffessional, but I’m sure I wouldn’t wanna be one of Uncle’s competitors” The group laughs. Sora then remembers what happend at the mansion.   
“Oh! I have to warm you guys”   
“Why?” Hayer questions.   
“Well, those creepy-crawly things might come back, so stay on your toes”   
“Well, sure, but don’t we have you guys to take care of ‘em for us?”   
“Weeelll….” Sore scratches his head.   
“You have to leave again?” Olette looks sad.   
“Yeah…” Sora looks down. “It’s our job” Donald added.   
“But we’ll definitely be back” Goofy reassures.   
“When ya gonna slow down?” Hayner asked. Ya know, when is he gonna slow down, boi needs and break.   
“Sorry, just do me a favor..” He shyly smiles.   
“Well what is it? Don’t make it too tough”   
“Donald, Goofy… Kairi … Riku...they all brought me back by wishing with all thier hearts. So…. I was hoping you three would do the same for Roxas…” He shyly asks.   
“What? That’s it? That ain’t no favor. We’ll all wish. I’m wishin right now” He looks at Olette. “Yeah!” She smiles. “Me and Pence too”   
“Thanks guys” The brunette smiles.   
“We’ll always be here if you need us, Sora” Hayner smiles.  
“You’re welcome anytime” Olette added. 

As this sweet exchange happens, two figures watch from a nearby rooftop. A dark corridor appears and Xigbar walks through to grace the twins with his pressence.   
“Aren’t you making it a bit obvious, you two?”   
“We were instructed to guide him”   
“Yes…. just look at them” He glares at the group below. “They wouldn’t have gone far without us”   
“Hmm, fair enough, but the kid’s getting stronger by the day, let’s not forget how many times he rained on our parade, I mean, he gave us a run for our money back in the original Org.”   
“If he wavers from the path we lay, we kill him” Ansem says with a smirk in his voice.   
“Hmm, that would be one less light to put up a fight…. But also on one less vessel for baldy to use” Xenmas smirks.   
“That’s why we always have more than one iron in the fire~” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gentle morning sun casts an almost pink glow over castle gardens, some petals fly through the air, making the breeze smell of flowers. Riku and the king are following Dilan to the plaza where the “Xehanort” was found. Dilla guesters to the area and leaves them to it.   
“This must be the place” Mickey picked up.   
“Where she fell into the dark after she tried to save Terra” Riku added.   
“Yeah, she said he was acting strange”   
“Like how?”   
“Well she sensed darkness in him and then they ended up in a big fight” He sounds sad.   
“Right, and in the end they both vanished… around the same time the guards found him here” Riku stated.   
“Ansem took the stranger in, but he didn’t know what doing that would result in. Xehanort betrayed him, stole his research and along with the other apprentices, seprated the heart and body. The heart took his name and travled to the past to give his younge self instructions and even took control of you..” Riku flintched, guilt about all things he did to Kairi… and Sora.   
“All while his body stayed in the present, called himself Xemnas and made the Organization, they gonna be the thirteen vessels for his heart-”  
“-until we put an end to him and the rest of the Org. But then the young one had been visiting the future to pick his own vessels, strong hearts with ties to him” Riku contunued.   
“To make a new Orginaztion..”   
“The real Orinazation thirteen” They said at the same time.   
“And now they want to fight with us” Riku held up his thumb to his chin. “But what happened to Terra? Didn’t Aqua save him?” He turned to the king.   
Yup.. she did, the problem is we didn’t notice. Remeber at the end you your exam? When Xehanort showed up? That’s the one I remember, he was pretty old already” Rilu quirked a brow. “But how do you explain Ansem and Xemnas? They’re his Heratless and Nobody”   
“They look so young..” Riku thought to himelf.   
“Well it’s becuase Xehanort was in a different body when it happend. Remember the portrait? It wasn’t no stranger that Ansem took in, it was the young man that Xehanort possesed” Mickey concluded.   
“No way! That was Terra? He was using Terra?” Riku clentched his fists.   
“Yes, He told us “another on our list” was his. He was talking about Terra. Aqua didn’t just save him that day”   
“Ok…. but Xehanort’s old again, where did Terra’s body go?”  
“Hmmm…. Oh! He must be collecting vessels! He claimed to have two of our seven lights. We got Sora back, but Terra must still be in the dark with them”  
“He’s with them? We should warn Sora, they might even try and turn him again..” The king nods.   
~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism is accepted and yes I'm aware of all the typos.


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